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Description

Watermark:

HM The Queen Elizabeth II.

Avers:

HM The Queen Elizabeth II.

This portrait of Her Majesty is adapted from a photograph, taken prior to a Royal Tour of India and Pakistan by Anthony Buckley in October 1960, and it is one of the more widely used images of The Queen.(Peter Symes)

Her Majesty is shown wearing Queen Alexandra's Kokoshnik Tiara, the King George VI Festoon Necklace, and Queen Mary's Floret Earrings.

The Kokoshnik Tiara, which is sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara, was designed in the style of a Russian peasant girl's headdress. The design of the Kokoshnik tiara was based on a similar tiara, owned by Queen Alexandra's sister, The Empress of Russia. Created by "Garrard", the tiara has sixty-one platinum bars set with 488 diamonds. The tiara was presented to Queen Alexandra, while still a princess, on the occasion of her silver wedding anniversary. It was a gift from three hundred and sixty-five peeresses of the realm. The Festoon Necklace was created from one hundred and five diamonds, at the request of King George VI, from diamonds he inherited on becoming King.

In 1950, King George VI had a diamond necklace created for his daughter Princess Elizabeth using 105 loose collets that were among the Crown heirlooms he inherited. (These, according to Hugh Roberts, had been used by Queen Mary to change the lengths of her multiple diamond collet necklaces, hence their loose status in the collection.) The end result is this take on a triple strand necklace: three strands of graduated collets suspended between two diamond triangles, with a single collet strand at the back. This is also called simply the Queen’s Festoon Necklace, though I’ll use George VI’s name to be a little more specific.

Even though her collection of diamond necklaces has vastly increased since 1950, this is still a favorite with the Queen and she wears it on a fairly regular basis."From her Majesty's Jewel vault".

These diamond and platinum earrings are another example of the multiple changes Queen Mary made to her jewels. The large central stones are the Mackinnon diamonds, a pair of solitaire earrings that were a wedding gift from Sir William Mackinnon to Mary for her wedding in 1893.

The stones were then set as the center of another pair, Queen Mary's Cluster Earrings. Later on, they were replaced and a new setting was created by Garrard, Queen Mary's Floret Earrings. In their new setting, each one is surrounded by seven slightly smaller diamonds. The earrings were inherited by the Queen on Queen Mary's death in 1953. She wears them for occasions like the State Opening of Parliament, the Garter Day ceremony, and other formal events. "From her Majesty's Jewel vault"

Lower is the coat of arms of Gibraltar.

The coat of arms of Gibraltar was first granted by a Royal Warrant passed in Toledo on July 10, 1502, by Isabella I of Castile during Gibraltar's Spanish period. The arms consists of an escutcheon and features a three-towered red castle under which hangs a golden key.

The arms were described in the Royal Warrant as consisting of:

"...an escutcheon on which two thirds of its upper part shall have a white field; in the said field set a red Castle; underneath the said Castle, on the other third of the escutcheon, which must be a red field in which there must be a white line between the Castle and the said red field; on this a golden key which shall be on that with a chain from the said castle..."

The arms consist of a shield parted per fess:

1st Division: Two thirds Argent, a triple-towered castle of Gules, masoned and ajouré of Sable.

2nd Division: One third Gules, a key of Or hanging by a chain also of Or from the castle.

The castle has its roots in the heraldry of the Kingdom of Castile, the largest and most important medieval Spanish kingdom, of which Isabella was Queen. The preamble to the warrant granting the coat of arms to Gibraltar said:

"...and we, deeming it right, and acknowledging that the said City is very strong and by its situation it is the key between these our kingdoms in the Eastern and Western Seas and the sentinel and defense of the Strait of the said Seas through which no ships of peoples of either of these Seas can pass to the other without sighting it or calling at it."

The idea of Gibraltar being the key to Spain or the Mediterranean originated well before the Spanish conquest. The followers of Tariq ibn-Ziyad, who invaded Spain via Gibraltar in 711, are said to have adopted the symbol of the key when they settled in Granada. The coat of arms was accompanied by the inscription "Seal of the noble city of Gibraltar, the Key of Spain".

Top left side is the Rock of Gibraltar.

The Rock of Gibraltar (sometimes by its original Latin name, Calpe, or from its later Arabic name: Jabal Tariq ("Mountain of Tariq" or Spanish name: Peñón de Gibraltar) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is 426 m (1,398 ft) high. The Rock is Crown property of the United Kingdom, and borders Spain. Most of the Rock's upper area is covered by a nature reserve, which is home to around 250 Barbary macaques. These macaques, as well as a labyrinthine network of tunnels, attract a large number of tourists each year.

The Rock of Gibraltar was one of the Pillars of Hercules and was known to the Romans as Mons Calpe, the other pillar being Mons Abyla or Jebel Musa on the African side of the Strait. In ancient times the two points marked the limit to the known world, a myth originally fostered by the Phoenicians.

Denominations in numerals are in three corners. In words centered.

Revers:

The Convent of Gibraltar.

It has been the official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar since 1728. It was originally a convent of Franciscan friars, hence its name, and was completed in 1531.

Franciscan friars arrived in Gibraltar during the reign of Charles I of Spain. They were granted a plot of land in the area known at the time as La Turba where the poorer people of Gibraltar lived. A church and a friary were built in 1531. The entrance was at the back (what is now Governor's Lane). It stretched up to the area that is occupied today by the John Mackintosh Hall.

After the capture of Gibraltar by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in the name of the Archduke Charles, the Franciscan friars did not follow the exodus of the Spanish population and remained in Gibraltar, at least for some years (their presence was recorded in 1712). The Franciscan friary was later taken over as the residence of the British governors in 1728 and has remained so ever since.

The building was heavily rebuilt during the XVIII and XIX centuries in the Georgian style with Victorian elements.

In 1903 Gibraltar received its first visit from a British Monarch when Edward VII arrived to name the new No. 3 Dock of Gibraltar Harbour after himself. He received complaints that as head of the Church of England he should visit a Roman Catholic institution like The Convent. The King requested that the building should be called Government House. The new dry docks attracted Queen Alexandra in HMY Victoria and Albert in 1906 and the Prince and Princess of Wales the following year to name dock number two and then one after themselves.

Denominations in numerals are in three corners. In words in lower right corner.

Comments:

In 1914 were issued the first paper money and in 1927 began the production of banknotes in Gibraltar pound.

The Currency Notes Act of 1934 confers on the Government of Gibraltar the right to print its own notes, and the obligation to back and exchange each printed note with sterling reserves at a rate of one pound to one pound sterling. Although Gibraltar notes are denominated in "pounds sterling", they are not legal tender in Britain, but they are in theory exchangeable at par for British notes at banks; in practice, at least one major British bank will not accept or exchange Sterling notes issued by the Government of Gibraltar[citation needed], and others will do so at below par, as with most currency exchange. Gibraltar's coins are the same weight, size and metal as British coins, although the designs are different, and they are occasionally found in circulation in Britain.

British coins and Bank of England notes circulate in Gibraltar and are universally accepted and interchangeable with Gibraltar issues.